Internet giant Amazon reported on the increase in the number of personnel to more than 500 thousand people. This growth was facilitated by the acquisition of Whole Foods and the rapid recruitment of employees in regional distribution centers.
As reported by USA Today with reference to Amazon's statement, by the end of September 2017 the company had 541,900 employees (full and partial working day), which is 77% more than a year earlier. This number does not include more than 120 thousand people, which the company has seasonally recruited to cope with a huge influx of orders on the eve of the New Year holidays.
Amazon always increases staff at the end of the year, because during this period, sales of goods in the company's online store are significantly increased. Thousands of seasonal employees hired for work last year, eventually remained in the company on a permanent basis.
The number of employees in Amazon has grown significantly after buying a supermarket chain of healthy foods Whole Foods Market for $ 13.7 billion. The deal was announced in mid-June 2017.
In March, Amazon announced the acquisition of the largest e-commerce platform in the Middle East - Souq. com - for $ 650 million. After the absorption of Souq. com and Whole Foods Market Amazon grew by 42%.
Currently, Amazon is considered the third largest retailer in the world (revenue in 2016 was 136 billion dollars), second only to Wal-Mart ($ 485 billion) and CVS Pharmacy ($ 177 billion).
At the same time, Amazon ranked second in terms of the number of employees among American companies. More people work only at Wal-Mart - 2.3 million people. The top three is the chain of supermarkets Kroger (430 thousand people).
Amazon notes that people coming to the company receive highly competitive wages, medical insurance, disability insurance, access to pension programs and company shares.
Amazon employees work in 238 American cities. The company plans to build a second headquarters, which will create another 50 thousand jobs. Investments in the project are estimated at $ 5 billion.
According to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the new headquarters will be comparable to the one in Seattle, Washington,. It occupies 33 buildings with a total area of ??about 752.5 thousand square meters. There are more than 40 thousand people working there.